There's No Place Like Home
by HOAWhovian17
Summary: This is just a story about Emma's feelings during the finale at certain parts realizing what her definition of home is. This does contain spoilers, so if you haven't seen it, just be warned.


** AN: So I know this isn't another chapter to Waking Up, sorry about that by the way, but this was an idea that just popped into my head while watching the finale. **

**Summary: Emma's feelings from the moment Snow was supposedly 'killed' in the finale to when she saw her parents again at Granny's. Marrian is not in this as I really don't want Regina to be unhappy because she's been through Hell and back again, so this is a bit AU. **

** P.S. Sorry if this seems a bit wishy washy or jumps around in some places. I couldn't find the exact words for some bits and I sort of wanted to get to the part when she sees her parents again. **

** I hope you all like this. As said before it's not exactly thought all the way through as I just got a small idea stuck in my head and had to write something to go with it. This is where my subconscious led me. **

**There's No Place Like Home**

There were very few moments, if any, that she actually felt the loss of her 'home' in her heart. One of those times, the only one she was truly sure about, was when Neal left her. Other than that, she couldn't really be sure. Until now. Now, she was watching her mother burn to death, a death that wasn't even supposed to happen but happened but did anyway because she had been so stupid and overeager to see her parent's first meeting and not following the rules that she hadn't really known about but should have because of the countless movies made about time traveling. All she could think of in that moment was how much she wanted her magic back and how she could have used it to put out the fire, to stop Regina and knock her out to get Snow to safety. But, as Hook held her closely and she gripped his arm to stop herself from helping in any way she could, she knew she was helpless. She couldn't do anything. In a matter of moments, her mother would be completely burned and she would be gone. It broke her heart more than the worst heartache she had ever had. Even worse, astonishingly, than giving birth and simultaneously giving away Henry, even worse than knowing Neal had left her to be put in jail, even worse than a lifetime of not knowing who she was and why her parents had left her. It hurt so damn much she cried for the first time in a very long time.

Later, as they sat in the forest and she stared at the fire, shivering from the cold without really feeling it, all she could think of was Snow and David. Had they even known she had gone through? Did they know she was gone or had no time passed at all? And then she wondered…if her mother was dead then why was she still there? When the bug was flying around, David being the only one who realized this ladybug was actually her mother, and then turned back to her mother she was filled with so much joy and love that she couldn't stop herself from hugging her mother tightly, closing her eyes to try and stop the tears. She wanted so much to say that valuable word, the one word she refused to say because she hadn't really believed all that much that these people were her home, but when she let her go, looking into her mother's eyes, all she saw…was blankness. There was no hint of recognition, no hint of love, nothing. She was a complete stranger to her own mother. And that's when she broke.

There was a great pain that filled her, that cracked her heart into a million pieces. She wanted so much to be home, to be wrapped in her parent's arms and to know without a doubt that she was so utterly loved. But she couldn't. She had a strong feeling that there very well might be something she needed or had to see. So she waited. And waited. And when her parents separated, when they went their separate ways like they were supposed to, she felt a tear fall down her cheek. It wasn't because she was sad, but because she was so incredibly happy. It was like Hook said: it's not every day you get to see your parents fall in love.

And now, well now she was going home.

When they finally got back, Emma managing to gain her white magic back and having lost the woman while they had fallen asleep, Hook having guessed that she drugged them a little to make sure they fell asleep so she could make her escape, the first thing she did was to go look for her parents. She didn't really care that Hook was behind her, though she had sometime during their trip realized how utterly she loved this man for every bit of comfort, love, understanding, and patience he had had with her over the past two years, but for now her mind was focused on one thing. And as she opened the door to Granny's and saw them standing there, she couldn't stop smiling and flew across the dinner and grabbed them in a semi-tight hug, mindful of the baby in her mother's arms. With the feeling of her Mom and Dad's warmth surrounding her and the feeling of her father cradling the back of her head, she allowed her body to relax, though she hadn't even known she had tensed in the first place.

She pulled back after a few moments and looked at their eyes, releasing a breath she hadn't even known she'd been holding when she saw everything she had missed not just hours earlier in a younger Snow and David's eyes: love. They knew who she was and loved her completely. She was their daughter, they were her parents, and she was home.

Home. It was a word she wasn't used to using, having not had a very good example of the word through her various foster homes, her time after Neal left her, or the empty feeling she'd felt when she was a bail bonds person. This though…this was what a true home was. Being surrounded by the people who loved you so completely, feeling that you were connected to someone with your whole heart and soul. This was what she felt now. And honestly, she never wanted to lose that feeling again.

With what had happened recently with Zelena, she'd been thinking of The Wizard of Oz, finding some of it completely ridiculous at that moment. But now, she couldn't stop thinking about one portion of the movie, finding it fitting for the situation.

There really was no place like home.


End file.
